Thursday, March 31, 2011

You are with me on top of Mount Tandy, in the picture, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

It was a good thing to be back on the hills again. I'd not had that type salubrious aerobicizing since my vehicular malfunction on Monday.

I did not go swimming this morning. It is 75 right now coming up on half past 4 in the afternoon. I will be going swimming tomorrow morning.

Yesterday, about an hour before I was planning to take off for the Stagecoach Ballroom, I checked in on my Google Webmaster Tools to find a long long long list of errors generated from my Eyes on Texas website. It took me awhile to figure out what had happened and that it was no big deal.

This led me to realize that it is almost time for Fort Worth's Main Street Arts Festival. The date information for that one also needed updating. Fort Worth's biggest festival takes place April 14 - 17. The Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival is something that Fort Worth does really well. Really.

I've heard no word from the Paradise Center as to whether they found a new home. This is the last day of the month. I believe by today the Paradise Center was told by the corrupt MHMR thugs that by today they had to have moved the POD storage container in which the MHMR thugs put all of the Paradise Center's property, after the MHMR thugs staged their coup d'tat, taking over the Paradise Center's facility.

The Paradise Center Scandal keeps seeming ever more bizarre to me. And ever more indicative that there is something really dire about the Fort Worth Way of operating. The problem with the Fort Worth Way came up at last night's TRIP meeting.

I have long opined that Fort Worth is badly damaged by not having a real newspaper. That fact was brought up last night in part of TRIP's "Up a Creek" movie. It pleased me to realize I am not the only one who realizes Fort Worth operates without a legitimate newspaper acting as the Fourth Estate advocate of the people in seeking truth, justice and the American Way.

The American Way. Not the Fort Worth Way.

Which is quasi-democratic and a really shameful spectacle to witness at times.

I was up way after midnight, well into the wee hours of the last day of March of 2011.

Which has me up well after the arrival of the sun has revealed that the last day of the month is a clear blue sky day, so far, in my zone of North Texas.

I am not going swimming this morning. It is only 42 degrees out there. I don't know if the 24 hour average has been over 50 degrees. I suspect not. I'm not in the mood for a shivering episode of the extreme trembles.

I learned, this morning, from one of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin's botanists, that this year's Texas wildflower crop will not be a bumper one.

I also learned that a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant is coming to Fort Worth. Sweet Tomatoes is a good thing. A really good thing. The Fort Worth Sweet Tomatoes will be among all the other restaurants in the booming Fort Worth zone of West 7th.

It was 30 years ago, yesterday, that Ronald Reagan was shot by a Jodie Foster addled crazy man. How can that be 3 decades ago? Time flies way way too fast.

Case in point, it is already past 8 this last morning of March of 2011. It is now time to go do something other than swimming. Like maybe have breakfast.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I made it safely back from the world premiere of "Up a Creek" at the Stagecoach Ballroom.

I really did not know what to expect to see in tonight's movie premiere.

I knew, sort of, what the subject matter was, that being promoting an adult version of improving the Trinity River and its tributaries and actually doing something about the flooding problem, other than building the world's best artificial wakeboard lake.

And stopping the bizarre Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The movie starred a young lady from Haltom City named Layla Caraway. It tells the story of how it came to be that Ms. Caraway is so passionately fighting the bizarre political power structure that runs roughshod over Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

Or as one of the talking heads in the movie said, "Fort Worth, the eminent domain abuse capital of Texas."

No. I was not that talking head.

I must say, Don Woodard is a Fort Worth treasure. His letters to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are great. But that man and his one-liners are even better. Clyde Picht is another Fort Worth Treasure.

There are a lot of Fort Worth treasures.

Unfortunately the current system of conducting business, in what is known as the Fort Worth Way, sort of stops Fort Worth's treasures from turning Fort Worth into the treasure it could be, rather than the poorly run company town it is.

Tonight, before the movie, while I hid in the dark, observing the crowd, a young lady approached me and asked if I was Durango. This type thing always makes me nervous, shy guy that I be. I said my name is not Durango. The young lady insisted that it was. And so I agreed. And then I learned it was she who emailed me today about something about Montana. It is from that email I know this was Georgia S. I met tonight.

I also met "Tarrant Liberty Guy" who had commented on my blogging earlier today about tonight's movie premiere, saying "Hope to see you and Ms. Hotpepper tonight!"

I am not absolutely certain, but I think trash and litter in the Trinity River may be part of what is covered in TRIP's "Up a Creek: the Movie."

I went swimming (not in a creek) this morning, even though it was only 40 degrees. The water was warmer. I did not stay in the water long enough to induce a case of the shivering trembles.

I went to Oakland Lake Park at noon to walk around Fosdic Lake today.

I've long been amazed at these ugly green litter barrels that litter Oakland Lake Park, along with these worn paper messages stickered on the barrels, saying "Don't Litter - Put It in the Can! Keep Fort Worth Beautiful."

Well.

You'd need to click on the picture to enlarge it, but, ironically, there is litter on the ground between the two litter barrels you see in the picture. There is a lot of litter in Oakland Lake Park. A lot of the litter floats in Fosdic Lake. I suspect this type litter is some of what ends up in the Trinity River when it goes in to flood mode.

At least we now know it is all the litter that is what is keeping Fort Worth from being beautiful.

I suspect if you go to the Stagecoach Ballroom tonight you may learn more about the bad stuff that goes in to and gets done to the Trinity River by its many abusers.

The Stagecoach Ballroom is located at 2516 E. Belknap, aka 377, in Fort Worth, just a short distance northeast of The Smoke Pit, with The Smoke Pit being my favorite place to get BBQ, whilst served by scantily clad servers.

The Red Carpet for the movie premiere starts at 6:30, with "Up a Creek" screening at 7:00. To fortify yourself, for viewing the movie documentary, adult beverages will be available. I'll be in the VIP area signing autographs with Elsie Hotpepper. Or not. I've not decided yet.

Below is map that should help you find your way to the Stagecoach Ballroom....

I was up late last night, thus up late this Wednesday morning of the next to last day of March of 2011.

Looking out one of my viewing portals on the world one can guess from the steamy windows that it is cold out there.

40 degrees.

To swim or not to swim?

Yesterday morning I was obsessed with the woe of having to take care of my vehicular transport problem.

Everything about fixing that woe went well.

And then when I took off to drive, starting the vehicle was startling. The new starter starts the engine like an explosion. I don't think I'd realized how tired the old starter had become.

In non-vehicle news of the morning, I was surprised to learn this morning that someone in Texas is calling for a 2 year moratorium on executing killers in Texas. A man who was up close and personal to the Clarence Bradley travesty is leading the moratorium effort.

Two decades ago Clarence Bradley was released after spending 10 years on the Texas death row for a murder he did not commit.

I can't imagine how cranky it would make me to spend time on death row when I knew I'd done nothing wrong.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

That is a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback you're looking at in the picture. My first car was a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback.

Mine is not the one in the picture, but that one looks close to mine, color-wise.

I just got called and told my current mode of vehicular transport has been repaired and is being delivered.

Back when I had my first car I worked on it myself.

I hated working on a car.

I fixed all sorts of things on my old Mustang. New shocks, fuel pump, carburetor, I forget what all. I'd replace the spark plugs. On my current vehicle it is not possible for me to change the spark plugs. I don't think it has a carburetor. I used to change the oil myself on my old Mustang. I have no idea how to do that with my current vehicle.

Elsie Hotpepper brought to mind, a few minutes ago, my history of car troubles with my old Mustang. It would over heat. The spark plugs would get fouled. I got stuck on Lombard Street in San Francisco with the clutch slipping. That same clutch, on that same trip, totally went out in Hollywood, late at night, after having watched the live taping of a TV show at Paramount Studios.

Oddly enough, to get that Mustang clutch fixed all those years ago cost almost the same as today's starter repair, both slightly over $200.

Another fun, unplanned stop, in my old Mustang was when it overheated on the Oakland Bay Bridge.

It amazes me now, looking back on it, that I went on so many roadtrips in that unreliable car. It took me to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, numerous times to Los Angeles and Disneyland, up to Canada, down to Mexico.

I put a lot of miles on my old Mustang by the time it died.

The Queen of Wink's son is lobbying hard to get an old 65 Mustang from his dad. I told the Queen of Wink I did not think this was a very good idea. It'd be a 46 year old car. Where would you find parts? How much would they cost if you could find them? Then again, if you fixed an old 65 Mustang up to its original glory, they are worth a fortune now.

After my old Mustang no longer ran a guy saw it sitting in a forlorn pasture, gathering moss, in rural Skagit County. This guy paid me $12,000 for that long dead car that I'd only paid $1050 for my senior year in high school.

About a year after selling the old Mustang the guy who bought it showed up at where I was living in Bellingham, showing off my restored old Mustang. I have no idea now how this guy knew where I lived. I shall have to ponder that one.

A short time later I learned that the rear end of my old Mustang had come undone, causing my old Mustang to be totaled. No one was injured.

When my old Mustang was running good, it was the funnest car I've ever had. I had myself some real fine times in that car, real fine times.

Well, enough of that. I've just been informed my newly restored current vehicular transport has arrived.

I hopped aboard the #21 Fort Worth bus a little before 10 this morning to transit back to my disabled vehicular transport.

Fort Worth's buses are rather barebone and stark with a very fun, wild ride that reminds me of something you might get on board in a theme park.

I exited the bus at Barnett and Oakland and walked to my stalled transport. I was hoping for a miracle, that it would now start.

It didn't.

So, I called AAA. I was told it would take 35 to 40 minutes for help to arrive. Instead it was less than 10 minutes.

Then it was off to the repair place. And then back here where I await the diagnoses.

It was foggy this morning, then the fog turned into a light rain. I got a little wet out in it.

When I got back to my homebase zone I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's to take a picture of her foggy balcony view.

It is being a stereotypical Pacific Northwest winter day today in my area of North Texas.

I suspect enough rain has fallen today that March of 2011 will not set a record for the least rain recorded in North Texas.

I called my mom and dad whilst waiting for a bus today. I was surprised to learn my Aunt Judy is currently over in Israel. Somehow this does not seem to be a good time to be being a tourist in the Middle East.

My mom told me they are having a heat wave in Phoenix. I told my mom we are not having a heat wave in Fort Worth.

I am up way too early this last Tuesday of March of 2011. Looking outside from one of my viewing portals I can see no stars or moons.

I suspect a heavy layer of clouds are lining the sky, because thunderstorms and rain are in the forecast for today.

I learned this morning that yesterday's tanker truck explosion on I-30, a couple miles to my west, caused the steel beams in the freeway bridge over Sycamore Creek to melt.

The westbound lanes of I-30 between Beach Street and Riverside Drive will be reduced from 4 lanes to 2, for months, while the Texas Department of Transportation makes emergency repairs.

Meanwhile up in Seattle, in other transportation related news, a group called Protect Seattle Now has managed to get over 27,000 signatures on a petition to put a referendum on the August ballot which will have voters voting on whether to go ahead with a multi-billion dollar tunnel project. Or not. 16,000 signatures are required to put a referendum to a vote.

Which has me wondering.

How come I don't read anything in the Fort Wort Star-Telegram along the lines of a group called Protect the Trinity Now has gathered over 27,000 signatures on a petition to put a referendum on the August ballot which will have voters voting for the first time on whether or not they approve of proceeding with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle?

Maybe TRIP (Trinity River Improvement Project) has a petition in the works that I've not heard about.

Right now I am petitioning for the sun to arrive to provide illumination for my morning swim.

While I wait for the sun to arrive I have an incredible amount of fresh incoming Paradise Center Scandal material to digest. Including a pair of videos.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Monday started off fine, going swimming with the air heated to about 46, with the water a lot warmer than 46.

Then around noon I headed to the Tandy Hills.

Interstate 30, westbound, was still backed up due to the explosion earlier today of a tanker truck that was hit by a car going the wrong way on the freeway.

I just learned from Cat's Paw that the drunk driver of the car that hit the tanker survived.

This had the freeway closed at Beach Street. The Beach Street freeway exit is what you are looking at in the picture, in a zoomed view from the Tandy Hills.

If I had planned to go to Town Talk today I would have changed that plan due to Town Talk being on Beach Street.

When I was done with my hill hiking I got back in my vehicular transport to find that it would not start. I flipped open my phone to call for help to find my phone dead.

After a few minutes of pondering what to do, the only option I could think of was to walk the 4 miles to my home base. So, that is what I did.

Walking the mean streets of this town is a real eye opener. Does Fort Worth have the fewest miles of sidewalk in any major America city? It is real annoying to have to walk on the street. Or like you see above, the skinny sidewalk ends, turning into a dirt path. I remember walking all over Tacoma. I never saw any street without a sidewalk. With the sidewalks being of the wide variety.

In the above picture I am looking back towards the sidewalk's end you saw in the previous picture. What I'm trying to show in the above picture is the astonishing amount of litter.

I also saw one of my favorite Texas wildflowers for the first time this year. I believe these are called Evening Primroses, but I am not sure about that. We had a little bit of rain yesterday. I think that may have prompted the appearance.

The first time I saw these pink wildflowers was when I came to Fort Worth in May of 1998 to see if it was remotely possible that I would want to move here. Barely east of Amarillo I started seeing these delicate looking pink flowers along the road. After about 100 miles of seeing them I had to stop and check them out up close.

I have made arrangements to have my vehicular transport towed to a fix-it place. This will take place tomorrow. I hope.

In the picture we are looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at a dark, cold last Monday of March of 2011.

It is only 47 degrees out there.

It did not warm up enough yesterday to dry my swimming suit, which I just retrieved from the aforementioned patio.

Some time past midnight a driver went the wrong way on Interstate 30, a couple miles to the west of my location, slamming in to a tanker truck, which exploded. Both drivers were killed.

I heard nothing.

I learned this morning, in what little of the Dallas Morning New online that I can read without being a subscriber, that Dallas is getting a Heart Attack Grill

The headline, "New Heart Attack Grill in Dallas’ West End sure to give some folks heartburn" caught me eye.

I clicked on the link and was able to read the following before getting the "Get Subscriber Content access to read this story" message...

"At the Heart Attack Grill, scantily clad “nurses” will serve high-fat offerings like milkshakes rich in butterfat and quadruple-decker burgers topped with cheese and bacon. Owner Jon Basso, who founded the restaurant in Chandler,..."

I believe the word that would have come after Chandler, had I been allowed to read the article, would have been Arizona.

Chandler is where my sister lives. I must remember to ask if she and my favorite brother-in-law have been to the Heart Attack Grill. I suspect the answer will be in the affirmative. My favorite brother-in-law is a burger lover.

The Heart Attack Grill has a website where the former Court TV reporter, Terry Moran, will tell you all about the health hazards involved in eating at the Heart Attack Grill and you will see some of the scantily clad burger serving nurses.

Yesterday I said that due to the slightly cold temperatures I would likely not go swimming this morning. But, I've changed my mind and have decided to go see if I can cause myself a bad case of the shivering trembles.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

In the picture you are looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, looking west from the Tandy Hills, today around noon.

As you can see it is a bit overcast. An extremely light slight drizzle dripped on me while I did my hill hiking today.

And now, coming up on 3 in the afternoon, the first big drops of rain I've seen this month are falling. Currently not in copious amounts. I don't know if this rain is hitting the official measuring station at D/FW Airport. Or if it will add up to enough to bring the total above the current record low for North Texas, set back in March of 1926.

I just heard a big BOOM of thunder. That's the first thunder boom I've heard in a long time.

It is now raining hard enough that it will quickly accumulate more than .1 of an inch, and then go on to break the .2 record low.

It has not gotten above 50 today. Right now it is colder than when I went swimming this morning. At that point in time the water was warmer than the air.

I don't see myself swimming tomorrow morning. And if this rain keeps up there will be no hill hiking tomorrow either.

Which means by about 2 in the afternoon I will be being cranky from extreme endorphin withdrawal.

Okay, we are now in downpour mode. But there have been no more thunder booms.

Have I ever mentioned I really like a good storm?

It has now let up. That was a rainstorm of very short duration. And the only thunderstorm I remember that had only one boom.

I stepped outside to take a picture of the outside view at about the same time the sun started to arrive on this last Sunday of March of 2011.

Now that the sun has done its daily illuminating duty I can see we are under a bit of a cloud cover.

I do not believe any rain has fallen, so we are still on course for a record breaking lack of rain for a March in North Texas.

Rain is in the forecast for the next several days. It won't take much, only .01 to tie the 1926 March rain total.

I think I have previously mentioned that the Dallas Morning News online has gotten very annoying. Not satisfied with generating revenue via ads, the DMN online now only gives limited access, unless you pay a monthly fee.

This morning on the Dallas Morning News this headline caught my eye...

"Three years since being declared innocent, mans waits for ruling to set him free"

I clicked on the link and was able to read this....

"Three years have passed since State District Judge Rick Magnis found that Ben Spencer was innocent of a March 1987 deadly robbery in West Dallas. But Spencer, 46, still sits behind bars because the Court of Criminal Appeals hasn’t ruled on the judge’s recommendation that his conviction and life sentence...."

Before I came to this....

"Get Subscriber Content access to read this story."

I would think that the Dallas Morning News webstats are likely way down, which likely has led to a big drop in their online ad revenue.

No, I am not going to be at the historic Stagecoach Ballroom to dance with Dancing with the Stars' Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo. That pair will be giving dance lessons at Fort Worth's non-historic Universe Ballroom.

I had no idea, til today, that Fort Worth had ballrooms.

On Wednesday you can join me, if I show up, at the historic Stagecoach Ballroom to watch the world premiere of the documentary movie "Up a Creek."

"Up a Creek" looks at various impacts of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I do not know if "Up a Creek" includes footage of the infamous J.D. Granger UTA breakdown.

I have no idea what this documentary movie is rated. But, since it's about Fort Worth I expect it to be filthy, with a lot of trashy stuff shown.

The historic Stagecoach Ballroom is located at 2516 E. Belknap in Fort Worth. You can easily find directions by Googling "Stagecoach Ballroom Fort Worth." That is how I found out where the historic Stagecoach Ballroom is located.

On Wednesday, March 30, 2011, doors open at 6:30 p.m. with "Up a Creek" screening at 7:00 p.m.

This is a TRIP event. TRIP is an acronym for Trinity River Improvement Project. TRIP is a non-partisan, non-profit organization which advocates cleaning the Trinity River, while supporting development that does not spoil the natural aesthetics and historic nature of the river.

I remembered my camera today when I went hiking on the Tandy Hills. My co-hiker also remembered her camera, hence the picture of me hiking.

You can sort of tell from the picture that it is a warm day on the hills.

I think with all the hill hiking I do and all the swimming I do that I am eventually going to get myself in good shape and eventually lose all my unsightly weight gain.

I think I may go for an afternoon swim. It is 80 something out there right now, with a clear blue sky, which should make for some good sun lounging.

I called my mom and dad on Wednesday when I got gas in Hurst. My one longtime reader may remember I call my mom and dad whenever I get gas. They were not home when I called. Usually my mom then calls me back later in the day.

I'd forgotten about the Wednesday gas call when I got gas again today and called my mom and dad and again got the answering machine.

I guess I shall call my sister who lives in Chandler to find out what's up with my mom and dad. My mom and dad live in Sun Lake. About 8 miles, I think, from my sister's house. Chandler and Sun Lake are Phoenix suburbs.

I will likely hear from Betty Jo Bouvier now, harping about me going to Arizona to see my mom and dad.

In the meantime I'm going to go swimming and lay on a lounge chair for awhile.

As you can see, looking past the Shadow of the Skinny Dipping Thin Man, I am up way before the sun on the last Saturday of March of 2011.

It is currently 66 degrees.

Yesterday it got so HOT I turned on the A/C for the first time this year and learned my A/C is in malfunction mode, quickly in need of repair in case we get hit with a real HEAT wave.

The Pacific Ocean has been in La Niña mode for awhile now.

I forget what La Niña does to the weather in Washington. I think El Nino is when the West Coast gets hit with Pineapple Express rainstorms.

In Texas La Niña means drought. As in if it does not rain this week, March of 2011 will break the record as the driest in recorded history. We have had only .01 inch of rain this month, as measured at the official measuring station at D/FW Airport.

The previous record was .02 inches of rain, way back in March of 1926. I don't know where the official measuring station was back then. I know it was not at D/FW Airport, because the airport did not exist then.

All my previous Springs in Texas have been the wild weather time of the year, with big thunderstorms, tornadoes, torrential rains, windstorms.

I don't remember the last time I heard thunder or a tornado siren.

I hear the birds starting to chirp, which means the sun is arriving, which means I am going swimming in a few minutes.

Friday, March 25, 2011

You are looking at a rare middle of the afternoon view through the bars of my patio prison cell.

As you can see it is yet one more nice blue sky day in North Texas. Heated, currently, to 83 degrees.

More often than not at this time of the day I have downloaded a picture taken on the Tandy Hills, Veterans Park, Village Creek Natural Historic Area, or some other park.

I went hiking on the Tandy Hills today. The hike went much longer than the norm. Longer than the norm because of my picture taking camera.

I was at the western most part of today's Tandy Hills hike, looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. I reached into my pocket to get my camera to take a picture of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

But.

There was no camera.

Earlier on today's hike, heading down a steep trail, I had a bit of a stumble. I did not fall. But I stumbled enough that I thought the camera may have fallen out of its pocket.

So, I backtracked to the scene of the stumble.

No camera.

When I got back to my current location I was not too shocked to see my camera sitting in its usual location on my desk.

I am pleased to report that overnight the wildflowers have suddenly grown more numerous. I saw several large patches of bluebonnets along the freeway. Indian paintbrush is sprouting out in large numbers on top of Mount Tandy. I think it is going to be a good wildflower season after all.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

That is today's new Tandy Hills wildflower you're looking at on the left.

I was late to the hills today, due to a lot of distractions.

When I don't get my usual aerobic stimulation and its resultant endorphin fix, I get cranky.

Today Elsie Hotpepper sent me an invitation to go saloon hopping next Wednesday. Saloon hopping in the middle of the week seems borderline decadent to me.

The Paradise Center Scandal continues to astonish me with the amount of comments and level of vitriol. The people commenting who associate themselves with the MHMR-TC agency come across as so incredibly dumb, logic and grammar challenged.

While the proponents of the Paradise Center sound so reasonable.

Today one of the dumb Anonymous MHMR-TC con comments had a double-negative that rendered it amusing, meaning the opposite of what the commenter intended. I'll go see if I can find the double-negative sentence.

Okay, there have been a lot of comments from Anonymous today along the theme that MHMR is moving on and will no longer be commenting on the Paradise Center issue.

Anonymous said, "Well, Folks the Grownups are not feeling a need to no longer speak with you."

Not feeling a need to no longer speak? Which means you are now feeling a need to speak.

Anyway, it's been a day. Started off good with a nice soothing swim.

Driving back from the Tandy Hills I saw something on top of my neighborhood Firestone store, next to my neighborhood Chevron that appeared to be a perfect visual metaphor for the MHMR Bullycrat thugs.

A big gorilla waving a shark in the air.

I have no idea why the big gorilla is there. Or how it got the shark. But it sure looked weird blowing in the wind.

I wish there was an answer blowing in the wind to all that perplexes me.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I have had myself a long day. And it's only a little past 6. I was up way before the sun this morning. In the pool for a long swim soon after the sun arrived. Up in Hurst in the noon time frame, which put me late on the Tandy Hills.

Hence the long Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man. It was semi-HOT on the hills today. In the 80s.

I encountered a pair of humans on the hills today. It sort of startled me. I was lost in my thoughts when suddenly a pair of what appeared to be hippies, who may have been living on the Tandy Hills since the 1960s, were right in front of me.

This may have been some sort of ghostly apparition.

The Paradise Center Scandal continues to be scandalous. I've written, maybe, 20 postings on this subject, on two blogs. These postings are generating dozens of comments a day. Putting it all together it becomes sort of a soap opera. You have villains, heroes, good guys, bad guys, nutcases and really creepy creeps.

The news of Elizabeth Taylor's passing really hit me today. The last star of the Golden Age of Hollywood. I just watched "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" a couple weeks ago. Elizabeth Taylor may have been at her peak in that movie. As was Paul Newman. Now they are both gone. It's depressing. To me, this is the saddest passing since Jackie Kennedy died.

Speaking of making me feel old, this morning Betty Jo Bouvier sent me a link to a funny YouTube video about "Fun Seattle Stuff You May Remember."

I remembered a lot of it. And put it on my Washington Blog. When I watched the "We Love It In Seattle" video I could not help but wonder if such a video could be made with Fort Worth material. Methinks not. Were Elvis or the Beatles ever in Fort Worth? Any killer whales make their debut on the Fort Worth waterfront?

As you can sort of tell, looking down on my aquamarine cement pond, I am up well before the sun on this 4th Wednesday of March of 2011.

It is 64 degrees out there, currently. I have my windows open and the ceiling fan spinning.

The Queen of Wink sent me a message, last night, with the first line saying she hoped she'd not upset me in any way. I have no recollection of the Queen of Wink upsetting me in any way, so I will need to remember to reply to this message and tell the Queen of Wink that she has not upset me in anyway.

Then again, the Queen of Wink also said she is back reading my blog after taking a sabbatical due to a variety of others things requiring her focus. So, since the Queen of Wink is back reading my blog again, she will read that she has not upset me in any way and so I really do not need to convey that in a reply to her message.

The Paradise Center Scandal continues to grow ever more scandalous. Yesterday I was sent some emails which shed some light on the scandal, so I blogged them.

The Paradise Center has only days to find a new home so that they can move their possessions that the MHMR bullycrats, led by their heartless CEO, Jim McDermott, put in a storage POD.

Is there no one in Fort Worth with a property on a bus line who can help the Paradise Center re-locate?

If only Fort Worth were a town that had some Christian churches with practicing Christians, there might be someone willing to do some good.

Maybe there is a Muslim mosque in Fort Worth that might help and be an object lesson for area Christians as to how to act Christian.

I think I'll go swimming now and not think about Fort Worth's shortcomings for awhile.

I was up well before the sun this morning, on the 4th Tuesday of March.

I did not see the Super Moon the night the Super Moon did its Super Moon thing a couple days ago.

This morning as soon as I stepped outside to check out the windy morning view I saw a big glowing white orb hanging above the trees, looking quite full.

I do not know if it was the almost full moon that brought on the lunacy of last night's disturbing nightmares.

It may have been watching a CBS crime procedural show that was last night's nightmare generator.

In the nightmare I murder someone for what seemed to be a good reason at the time. And then from that point in, in the nightmare, it is a series of ongoing attempts to cover up that bad thing I had done. With the cover-up ending up being more bad behavior.

The scope of this nightmare was cinematic, as if I was living in a horror movie of my own making, playing inside my sleeping head. I don't know who I murdered. I do remember, quite clearly, that at the time, for some reason, the person deserved to die.

Even though it is being quite gusty this morning, I don't think the whitecapping waves will keep me from having a pleasant morning swim. It is 64 right now with the Wind Chill Factor making it feel like 58 with those winds from the south blowing in at around 25 mph.

Monday, March 21, 2011

A couple wildflowers made their first appearance of the year on the Tandy Hills today. With one of the two being the pink wildflower you see on the left.

It was very cloudy and windy when I hiked the hills around noon. There was no Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man today.

But now, 3 hours later, shadows have returned, with the removal of most of the clouds.

Change of subject.

The Paradise Center Scandal is wearing me down. I thought when I made a blog, just for the Paradise Center Scandal, that the comments would go there. Instead there are a lot of nasty con and nice pro comments still coming to this blog. As well as the new one.

In many ways the Paradise Center Scandal is a worse scandal than Watergate. No one was actually hurt in Watergate, except for the perpetrators of the break-in and those who tried to cover up the crime. In the Paradise Center Scandal you have actual victims who have suffered damage due to the perpetrator's bad, likely illegal, behavior.

Unlike Watergate, the city where the Paradise Center Scandal took place has no real newspaper of the Washington Post sort.

And Fort Worth definitely has no Woodward and Bernstein in town doing any sort of investigative reporting regarding the wanton wrongdoing perpetrated by MHMR of Tarrant County.

Maybe the Washington Post could send a reporter or two to Fort Worth. In addition to learning about the Paradise Center Scandal the rest of America would likely find it interesting that Fort Worth has a mayor who has made millions of dollars from the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers poking holes all over the town of which he is mayor.

Maybe the Washington Post could find a way to explain to the people of Fort Worth what a conflict of interest is.

After telling the story of Fort Worth's corrupt mayor the Washington Post might want to tell the rest of America about Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision and explain what nepotism is to the people of Fort Worth.

I would think the rest of America would be a bit surprised to learn that their tax dollars are helping fund a huge, unneeded public works project.

And that Fort Worth's Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, J.D., was given the job of running this huge public works project, a job for which he had no qualifications.

But those who practice what is known as 'The Fort Worth Way" figured it would make the congresswoman beholden to them if they gave her son a job, with Ms. Granger getting behind sending some earmark money to help fund Fort Worth's unfunded Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Unfortunately for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, that earmark funding method is not working out too well.

Meanwhile, J.D. Granger has been having himself a real fine time on the public's dime, with fine dining, junkets, parties, expensive hotel rooms, a steady supply of liquor and all sorts of other perks.

I wish my mom was a congresswoman so she could get me a cool job with lots of booze and broads.

It is 65 degrees outside right now. That makes that blue oasis you see in the picture a tempting target.

Last night's booking of a flight to her home island for Miss Puerto Rico turned out to be as annoying as I expected. I actually found myself having to say "shut up if you want me to do this."

I have wanted to tell that girl to shut up for years. It felt very good to do so.

The Fire Ant damage to my arms seems to have drastically improved overnight.

I am not sure if it is good news or bad news, but in the news this morning I read that the catfish supply in Texas is drying up. Due to cheap catfish imports, the high price of corn and low market prices having made catfish farming a less than profitable operation.

Maybe the catfish shortage will get Texans to try other seafood and discover that catfish does not taste at all good compared to good seafood.

Like cod, red snapper, salmon, crab, clams, lobster and just about everything else that grows in the sea and does not taste like mud.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tootsie Tonasket, the #1 Squaw of the Tonasket Tribe in Washington, hiked the Tandy Hills with me for over an hour, this fine First Day of Spring Sunday.

In the picture we are looking west from the top of Mount Tandy at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Now this is amusing. I tried to put (sarcasm) stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth (sarcasm/), but since using <> is HTML, it was removed, because (sarcasm) is not legit HTML code, I'm guessing.
As you can see, it is a semi-cloudy blue sky day in North Texas. What you can not see is the air is currently heated to 76 degrees.

I have heard no reports of earthquakes, ultra high tides or any other calamities caused by the Super Moon.

I am expecting some personal calamity later this afternoon when I go over to Miss Puerto Rico's to book a flight for her off the mainland, back to her home island. It seems like I just did this. Miss Puerto Rico is out of here, April 13. April 13 falls on a Wednesday, not a Friday.

With Miss Puerto Rico's history of flying woes, I do not think it would be a good idea for her to fly anywhere on a Friday the 13th.

I am growing a bit tired of my Fire Ant caused diseased looking arms. I never had much of an acne problem during the years some people did. I feel like I'm sort of getting to experience that which I missed during my formative years. Maybe I need to go get myself some Clearasil.

That is Tootsie Tonasket, on the right, in her formal tribal attire. I think this may have been at the annual Tonasket Days Celebration, but I'm not sure.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Tandy Falls is now Tandy Dry Falls. Looking at the picture you would never guess that a couple months ago this was a roaring waterfall.

Change of subject.

I am in a bit of a foul mood today. I am sort of annoyed at the people of Fort Worth.

Well, some of the people of Fort Worth.

When the Paradise Center Scandal erupted over a month ago I thought this was such an obviously wrong that even this justice-challenged part of America would get that a BIG WRONG was done. And insist it be fixed.

In all my years of doing the blogging thing I've never been inundated with as many comments to various bloggings as I have been over the Paradise Center Scandal. I thought I'd move it all to a Paradise Center Scandal Blog, but a lot of the commenting is still coming in to this blog.

What really annoyed me today were incoming comments from MHMR "cons."

Cons is the term one of today's sane commenters used. As in pros and cons, with the Paradise Center and Teresa Davis being the "pros" and the MHMR people and their little man leader, Jim McDermott, being the "cons."

I would hope, but know it won't happen, that "con" in this case will eventually come to also mean "convict."

The first sentence is an indicator that there are decent people in Fort Worth who can tell the difference between right and wrong....

"Wow, the lack of civility and decency shown by the commenters against (the "cons") this Teresa lady and her small but brave group of people leaves me and my family wondering what has happended to these cons to make them so hateful."

Good question. Methinks mental illness may be running rampant in the Mental Health Mental Retardation Tarrant County Agency.

But, then again, I have reason to think there is some sanity inside that organization. Someone claiming to be inside the MHMR organization has been sending me info. Including one very damning email written by MHMR CEO Jim McDermott.

I have been sort of confused as to what to make of much of what I've been sent. It all sort of wears me out.

Which makes me think I'm going to go swimming and not think about it for awhile.

You are looking at a close-up, macro view of the current state of the Fire Ant attack on my right arm.

The right arm is way worse than the left. By this morning the red bumps had formed white pustules that make it look as if my arm is covered by a real bad case of acne.

I've not had a zit in decades.

I've now learned that Fire Ants bite only to get a grip on your skin so they can then inject a sting from their abdomen that contains a toxic alkaloid venom called solenopsin.

For most humans Fire Ants are a painful sting, with a sensation similar to being burned.

I am not like most humans, apparently, I felt nothing and still feel nothing.

I have learned the white pustule can get infected, if scratched. I've had no impulse to do any scratching. A topical steroid hydrocortisone cream and aloe vera helps. Or taking antihistamines. I'm taking nothing.

Some people have a horrible reaction to a Fire Ant attack, due to allergies, causing severe chest pain, nausea, bad swelling, trouble breathing and slurred speech.

Where I got stung I saw no Fire Ant mound. It was likely located elsewhere, with me getting burned by Worker Ants. The Worker Ants are sterile females who do all the work of the ant colony, like building the nest, taking care of the babies, running the Fire Ant defense system and hunting for supplies for the colony.

I suspect I was attacked by some supply hunters.

The Fire Ant nest is ruled by a Queen. The Queen has up to 8 sub-Queens who's job it is to flee the nest if it is attacked, so a new colony can be built with a new Queen. The Queen's main job is to make babies. The Queen can live 6 or 7 years, popping out around 1,500 ant eggs a day.

The Queen is one very busy Fire Ant. She basically spends her day getting serviced by Male Drones. The Drones mate with the Queen and then die. Their average lifespan is 4 days. The Males are born, reach puberty, reproduce and die within 4 days.

Someone suggested that the reason I don't feel the burn of the Fire Ants is the same reason I don't feel the cold of the pool.

It is 65 this 3rd Saturday of March at a little past 7. I have the ceiling fan spinning and the windows open. Birds are making an awful racket out there, announcing the arrival of the sun.

I intend to have myself a very long swim this morning.

This morning I learned that the people of Tarrant County are too fat. Shocking news.

In something called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Project, Tarrant County Public Health found that 66 percent of Tarrant County adults are overweight or obese.

I don't know why the county had to go to the bother of conducting some big surveillance project to figure out this is one fat county.

Just park yourself at any random Tarrant County Wal-Mart and count 100 people and you will likely come close to 66% (or more) appearing to be grossly overweight.

I remember the last time I drove myself back to the Northwest. July of 2001. I crossed the border into Oregon at Ontario. That is a town in Oregon, not the Canadian province. I went in the Ontario Wal-Mart. I was immediately struck by the way it appeared the people had had the air let out of them.

That same people appearing deflated phenomenon occurred again when I flew to Seattle in February of 2004. I had not been back to the Northwest since July of 2002. So, that was over 2 years of seeing a lot of fat Texas people.

I got picked up at Sea-Tac and then brought to the Pioneer Square zone of Seattle to go to a gallery. I was struck even more than the time in Ontario, that it appeared the people had had the air let out of them.

There are way way way too many balloon people in Tarrant County.

Change of subject.

I also learned today that Fort Worth city officials are recommending that one of the victim's of the Rainbow Lounge Gestapo Raid lawsuit case be settled out of court by offering the head injury victim $400,000. The man was injured when Fort Worth staged a bizarre Stormtrooper like raid on the Rainbow Lounge, it being a newly opened gay bar. This Gestapo Raid caused Fort Worth international embarrassment.

For, I think, the second. Or third. Time that year.

Change of subject again.

I've not heard from Elsie Hotpepper in awhile. And then this morning I get an email in which Elsie asks, "You have been quieter than usual, I am not the only one who thinks so...are you ok?"

Now, that is just bizarre. How have I been quiet? It is Elsie who has been quiet.

Friday, March 18, 2011

It is Friday coming up on 5 in the afternoon in North Texas. Currently we are 4 degrees shy of 90 degrees.

I've got the ceiling fan spinning and am thinking of turning on the A/C for the first time this year.

If this was July and I was in the Northwest at 86 degrees, the locals would be in full whine mode over the horrible heatwave overheating everyone.

A couple days ago I read on Mr. Galtex's latest blogging about the Galtex's visit to Seattle, among his ponderings of things to consider regarding the idea of moving from Fort Worth to Seattle, was that he would be perpetually pale.

It rains in Seattle. It's generally not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, but it's enough to get you wet. We never broke out an umbrella, although we used the hoods on our coats a lot. If we lived in Seattle I would lose my tan and become very pale.

Every April in Texas we close up the windows and turn on the air conditioner, and it stays on until October. In Seattle, anything over 80° is considered a heat wave, even in August. Few residences have air conditioning.

I must disabuse Mr. Galtex of an erroneous notion. I have not had a single sunburn since I moved to Texas. In Washington I seldom survived a summer without getting sunburned badly at least once. In Texas my face remains suntanned year round, lesser so in winter. In Washington, in summer, I would get suntanned all over. Front, back, legs. In Texas all that gets tanned, in summer, is my back, face and arms.

Why is that?

Well, In Texas you can stand to be out in the sun at 100 degrees or more for an hour at the most. In Washington on a sunny summer day you can easily stay outside all day long, thus absorbing a lot of sun rays. If it's rainy on the west side, I could go east of the mountains and stay at Sun Lakes State Park for 4 days and come home suntanned.

In Texas, in North Central Texas, there really are no beaches where you would want and go spend a day. In Washington I had the pick of 100s of miles of beaches, on saltwater and lakes, where the day could be spent, outside, where you could have a fire and roast weenies. I can't imagine spending a day at a Lake Grapevine beach, with a fire, in July.

So, Mr. Galtex, when you and Gail move to Seattle, by the end of your first August, you will likely find yourself darker tanned than you've ever been. And then by October that will have faded to pale, until the next June, when you can begin the darkening process again.

Another big difference regarding suntans in Texas and Washington. I have seldom slathered on sunscreen in Texas. In Washington if I knew I was going to be out in the sun, I would slather on the SPF 30.

The Tandy Beer Tree near the top of Mount Tandy has sprouted its first bud of the new year.

The Tandy Beer Tree is within a few feet of where I was attacked by swarms of fire ants, yesterday, mad at me for getting on the ground to take a picture of a bluebonnet.

The red sores on my arms are worse today. But they don't itch. I'd forgotten about them and did not notice that I looked diseased til I saw the spots whilst taking a shower, post swim.

Speaking of swimming this morning. The air was heated to 65. I could not tell if the water was colder or warmer than the air. But it was very refreshing, so I stayed in it for a long time.

The air was heated to 74 when I hit the hills at noon, with the Heat Index making it feel like 79. It seems like only yesterday we were shivering with the Wind Chill Factor, here in North Texas. I think I prefer getting hot due to the Heat Index, than chilly due to the Wind Chill Factor.

I was startled by a four legged creature soon after I took the picture of the Tandy Beer Tree. I was kneeled over, tying my left shoe, when suddenly a collie dog ran up behind me. I had my whacking stick with me. I think the dog thought I was about to whack it because it started doing some sort of aggressive dance. Soon its owner came into view and controlled the beast.

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell you can sort of tell it is another blue sky day in North Texas on this third Friday of March.

When I checked on the news this morning via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News, Seattle P-I and Skagit Valley Herald I expected to see big headlines about bombs being dropped on Libya.

Yesterday the UN gave approval to a no-fly zone over Libya and stopping Gaddafi's aggression by whatever means needed, with action expected within hours. So, I was surprised to see very little mention made this morning of Libya. Let alone bombs dropping.

There was a big article in the Star-Telegram letting locals know that the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant is a much better designed facility than those in Japan which are currently in trouble. With the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant supposedly designed to withstand getting hit with a worst case tornado.

No mention was made of the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant's ability to withstand a 9.0 earthquake. Or a tsunami.

Speaking of tsunamis. I think I'll go and make some waves now. It's 65 this morning. This should make for some semi-pleasant swimming.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Today is feeling like it is being the hottest day of the new year. It was definitely the hottest day of the new year on the Tandy Hills today. I think it was almost 80.

I entered the Tandy Hills from the top of Mount Tandy today. As I was walking along I thought to myself that I should be seeing wildflowers. Thinking that by this point in time, a few days before the start of spring, in years past, there would already be wildflowers.

But, all I'd seen, so far, this year has been a purple flower I saw for the first time a couple weeks ago, on the Tandy Hills and a bright yellow flower at Oakland Lake Park.

As I was hiking the currently mostly colorless Tandy Hills I wondered if maybe the harsh winter had dealt a death blow to the Texas wildflowers this year. A time of year which is my favorite part of the year in North Texas. The usually drab landscape puts on a show of color for several months, usually with some colorful thunderstorms to add a soundtrack.

Well, on the way back up Mount Tandy today I saw the blue beauty you see above, which I'd walked right by without noticing on my way down Mount Tandy.

A bluebonnet. The State Flower of Texas. The harbinger of spring and the start of wildflower season.

You may be wondering what that is on the left.

Well, that is me. The underside of my right arm to be more precise, with the narrow part being my wrist, which is connected to my right hand.

See the red bumps?

Well. To take the picture of the bluebonnet I had to get real close. With the camera set in macro mode. I pretty much got down on the ground, on my knees, leaning on my arms to take the picture.

It is not a wise thing to get on the ground in Texas without first carefully examining the ground you are are getting down on.

Today I was not wise, which is not the first time I have been un-wise in Texas.

I had kneeled down over a fire ant nest. I quickly had dozens of the little beasts on me. I thought I'd brushed them off before they could do their burning thing. I thought wrong.

I felt no stinging, I saw no signs I'd been stung. But by the time I got back here both arms had developed dozens of fire ant hot spots.

I am almost sure I will recover from this latest attack by Mother Nature. I am willing to do some suffering to get a good picture.

I woke up after the sun did, this morning, on the 3rd Thursday of March.

I had myself a night of nightmares.

Few details, of which, I remember. Except for the fact that the nightmares took place in Washington and involved a lot of high steep mountain drama.

I did not manage to go on my daily walking/hiking constitutional yesterday. I am feeling the lack of that stimulation this morning. I think endorphin withdrawal may be as bad as withdrawal from something like heroin.

Speaking of drugs. This morning I was shocked to learn that Texas has run short of the drugs it uses in its lethal injection cocktails the state uses for its many executions. The state has had to come up with a new mix of drugs in order to be able to successfully kill Cleve Foster, with that execution scheduled for April 5.

In other drug related news, the West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska's drug suppliers are running low on potassium iodine due to panicked people depleting the stocks due to fear of a radiation cloud arriving from Japan, with potassium iodine possibly preventing thyroid cancer caused by radiation exposure.

I learned yesterday during the 15 minutes I can stand listening to Rush Limbaugh that the Bulgarians are claiming that drinking red wine is as beneficial in preventing radiation caused thyroid cancer as potassium iodine.

So, I got several boxes of really red wine yesterday and have been taking a medicinal dose ever since. So far, no thyroid cancer, near as I can tell.

Change of subject from cancer, drugs and wine.

Yesterday the Fort Worth Zoo had a record breaking crowd due to it being half price Wednesday and Spring Break Week for area schools.

This had me thinking would it not make sense for the Fort Worth Zoo to make it Half Price Spring Break Week? It seems as if they would get way more visitors than what crammed into the zoo on Wednesday. And in the end make way more money.

Change of subject again.

It is 65 degrees outside according to my supposedly accurate temperature information source. I am well past my usual morning swim time, but rather than bail on the swimming, due to the balmy temperature, I am heading to the pool now.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The comments from the shills of MHMR, and its CEO Jim McDermott, have been mean-spirited, slanderous, inarticulate and at times sort of nasty.

Which is what thuggish bullycrats do.

Just this morning I hit the publish button on a comment from a little girl named Elizabeth. Elizabeth was responding to how the MHMR thuggish bullycrats had characterized little Elizabeth in one of the comments.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

In the picture we are on the Tandy Hills looking west at the forlorn skyline of the dull downtown of Fort Worth, Texas.

As you can see, today at noon, the forlorn skyline of dull downtown Fort Worth is under a gray, hazy sky. It has brightened up a bit since noon.

Usually I describe this view as looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Then a couple days ago, someone asked me if I really think the Fort Worth had a beautiful downtown with a stunning skyline.

Or was I being sarcastic?

I thought the sarcasm was obvious, but I guess I need to start using my sarcasm font when the sarcasm is not sarcastic enough for easy discernment.

The Tandy Hills hiking was nice today. Not too hot, not too cold.

Despite yesterday saying I wouldn't, this morning I braved the 8 degrees of freezing temperature and went swimming. Just like yesterday, due to the air being way colder than the water it made it almost seem like a heated pool.

Change of subject to the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

A "Sick-n-Tired Employee," of the Paradise Center or of MHMR asked me....

Mr. Durango,

Could we suggest that you, if feasible, combine all the various postings and comments about this foul smelling scandal in one section or something like that so that we and the public could examine more closely this major scandal?

Well, this is a blog, I don't really have the ability to arrange the blog postings. It doesn't work like a website. I suppose I could webpage the various bloggings and postings. But that would take some time to do. I'll think about it.

In the picture that's the Shadow of the Thin Man in skinny dip mode, well before the arrival of the sun on the Ides of March, the third Wednesday of March.

It is currently only 8 degrees above freezing. I have not decided if I want to attempt jumping in that aqua-marine oasis you see glowing below me.

I had a sort of rough night of nightmaring. Shock treatment via cold water would likely be a good treatment for the currently foul mood I am in.

In the worst of last night's nightmares I was back in Burlington in the house I grew up in. All sorts of things were wrong. And then I walked in my bedroom to find that enormous entity I call Fubbo. I immediately tried to remove her from my bedroom, but due to the enormous heft I was unable to budge the behemoth.

Monday, March 14, 2011

In late February I blogged my disdain for First Convenience Bank and my realization I'd made a mistake opening an account there.

The issue at that time was my payment from Google that had been issued, but had not shown up in my account.

Eventually it showed up.

I opened the First Convenience account due to not liking how Chase Bank operated, changing the terms of my account with Washington Mutual.

So, before the Google incident, I'd told Big Ed I thought First Convenience would be convenient. So, he opened an account. About a week later he went to deposit a large check. He was told it would take 9 days to clear. The check was drawn on Wells Fargo, so Big Ed decided to forego First Convenience and open a Wells Fargo account.

Big Ed had opened the First Convenience account with just a $10 deposit. After he'd activated the debit card it did not work. The checks from First Convenience never arrived.

So, today Big Ed was in Wal-Mart and decided to get his 10 bucks back. And what does he learn? The debit card that never worked for him had worked for someone else. On the 23rd it was used to attempt to charge $75 and on the 26th it was used to attempt to charge $51.

First Convenience did not let these charges go through because Big Ed had not approved overdraft protection.

But, even though those charges did not go through, First Convenience charged Big Ed's account $2 for each charge attempt. So, his $10 had become $6.

He was given a number to call to get the other $4.

Now, why was Big Ed not notified of these 2 charges on his card? He was in the bank 2 days after the first charge was made on the 23rd, trying to deposit that check. Why was it not mentioned at that time that a $75 charge had been attempted on the account.

How did this happen? Big Ed was never able to use the card. It did not work. But someone else used the card's numbers, a card which had never been used, successfully, by Big Ed, to try and steal $126.

Why would the bank, today, not treat this like a serious matter. Big Ed told the bank guy that it would appear this would have to be an inside the bank problem.